A Lie for a Lie (28 page)

Unless Yank himself had hired Danny and arranged the episode for just that reason. I didn’t like that thought, but it was plausible.

“What were you doing there?” Roussos asked. “That’s the part he didn’t tell me.”

“Talking to people.”

“You didn’t learn your lesson after the last time, did you? You’re putting yourself on the line again.”

“Not really, but I’ll confess that avoiding elephants never really occurred to me. I just wasn’t thinking ahead. Now they’re on my list.”

“You religious types stick together. That’s what this is about.”

I nearly sprayed a mouthful of coffee over the table. I hacked for a moment, trying to breathe normally. “Roussos, do you know anything about churches and religions?”

“Not any more than I have to.”

“Quick course, then. Some religions believe in divine revelation, in modern-day prophecy and people talking directly to God. Sister Nora’s firmly in that camp. Then there are others who are more focused on facts we can prove, along with listening to that still, small voice inside us and doing good while we’re here. Our church is firmly in
that
camp.”

Since his eyes hadn’t glazed over, I finished with a flourish. “However, for the record, what Nora’s hearing and what my still, small voice is trying to tell me aren’t too far off, so sometimes we do come together quite nicely. Global warming’s a threat to us all. Maybe I’m not into divinely inspired biospheres as a solution, and I see how odd the circus, tent revival thing probably looks to you, but I
am
into people doing whatever they can to make a difference.”

“So you’re involved for what reason?”

“Because you’re railroading an innocent woman.”

“And since you’re not into revelation, you’d know this how?”

“Did you miss that part of the lecture? That still, small voice along with the facts?”

“Do the facts indicate somebody was trying to kill you yesterday?”

I considered, staring at our blue willow sugar bowl. “I guess it’s possible. But it has to be somebody who doesn’t know me very well if he thinks that wouldn’t just make me more curious.”

“There’s my clue. It was somebody who didn’t know you lack good sense about your safety. That should narrow it way down.”

I looked up. “Are you going to check into this? Other than just talking to me?”

He gave a short nod.

“There’s something else you could do while you’re at it.” I watched all expression leave his face, a short trip. “Come on, Roussos. The more you check and discount, the better your case against Nora, right?”

“What?”

I told him about Rob Taylor from Zelienople, Pennsylvania, who had been following Grady from town to town, the very man I had seen backstage on Grady’s final night on earth. I also told him I had crossed Fred off my suspect list, that he had, as he’d said, been meditating in Big Sur and unable to murder Grady himself, despite all inclinations.

“I’ll see what I can find out,” he said grudgingly.

“I think you’re helping because you know Nora didn’t do it.”

“You’d be wrong there.” He finished his coffee and stood. “I just like all my ends tied up. In exchange, I want you to be extra careful from here on in. I know you’re not going to stop, no matter what I say. But pay close attention to what’s going on around you, and carry your cell. If anything seems out of the ordinary, call me on mine.”

“I promise. The next time elephants come roaring toward me, I’ll stop and punch in your number.”

“Put me on speed dial.”

With Deena more or less out of the picture, I hoped Teddy was up to that task.

Like the gracious hostess I am, I followed him out. As I walked the few steps I wondered if I ought to come clean about Tammy and Madison while Roussos was being so accommodating. But how could I turn in church members without talking to them first? I told myself if I piled on the assignments, Roussos would flip me off anyway. Feeling better, I said good-bye, thanked him again for rescuing my perfectly contented cat, and watched him walk out to the street where his car was parked.

Roussos would probably be calling in the next day or so to tell me that Rob Taylor, like everyone else I’d suspected, had an alibi for the time of Grady’s death. When he did, if I hadn’t cleared the Sargents to my satisfaction, I would tell him about them then. Which meant I had to clear them fast.

By the time Ed was due home for lunch, I’d made sandwiches along with plans for my afternoon. I’d decided not to call Tammy and lose the element of surprise. I was going to track her down. That’s the other thing about a town the size of ours. There aren’t that many places to go. Unless she and Madison were off on vacation, I would probably be able to find them.

When she came down to get her grilled cheese, Deena presented me with her list of chores. She had checked off most of them. Some, I knew, had been done with more finesse than others, but I wasn’t going to quibble. This wasn’t about perfection. It was about making amends.

“The Meanies are all meeting at the pool this afternoon,” she said.

“A sensible place to be if they stay underwater and use lots of sunscreen.”

“I just have to weed the flower beds, and I’ll be done with all this stuff. I could do that tomorrow morning when it’s cooler.”

“Uh huh, or you could have done it this morning for the same reason.”

“This isn’t fair. I’m the only one who won’t be there! Even Shannon’s going.”

“How did this information come your way? Carrier pigeon? Smoke signals? I seem to remember you’re not taking calls or e-mail for a while.”

“I got a letter, okay? They had to send me a
letter
.” She rolled her eyes.

I was encouraged that at least one of the Meanies had learned how to address an envelope and put a stamp in the right corner. I’d been afraid this was a dying art.

“Deena, you know what you have to do before you have your privileges restored . . .” I frowned. “Did you say Shannon’s going to be there? Her mother’s letting her out of the house?”

“Even Shannon’s mother.”

“I guess I’m the Wicked Witch of the West, then, kiddo. Or maybe Shannon’s done everything her parents wanted her to.”

“You’re not going to let me go?”

“Nope. And it’s not just the flower beds. It’s the attitude thing. The silent treatment, the refusal to apologize.”

“Well, you can’t make me!”

I chewed my bottom lip. Then, with every ounce of self-control I could muster, I nodded. “Right. Not until you’re ready. Which means you probably need more time to consider. Because I think you’re still a logical, considerate girl who knows she’s got some work left to do. I have faith you’ll figure that out in your own good time.”

“I wish you’d just yell at me or something and get this over with.”

“If it makes you feel better, I’ve sure been tempted.”

She grabbed her plate and a bag of chips and took them upstairs, brushing past Teddy, who was on the way down.

“Maybe Deena’s sick,” she said. “Maybe there’s something eating her brain. Like a parasite.”

I didn’t want to know where Teddy had learned about brain-eating parasites. Maybe the boys starring in the video had suggested it as a plot element. I couldn’t blame them. Parasites were much more exciting than the moral dilemmas of a bicycle thief.

“It’s called adolescence,” I said. “It’s short-term and it’s not fatal.”

Ed came home, changed into jeans and a T-shirt, and went out back with Teddy for batting practice. I imagined that discussions of theology would zing back and forth as fast as the softball.

I took off soon afterwards, despite a strong urge to smuggle my oldest daughter out of the house and over to the pool. But as unhappy as this brief hiatus in Deena’s life made everybody, I knew Ed and I had to follow through. We didn’t have to like being grown-up meanies, though.

I started my search at the discount store where Tammy worked as a manager and learned she was off for the day. Then I moved on to Tammy’s house. With no success I broadened my search to the library, and after that I swung by the pool and the jogging trail, parked downtown, and window-shopped to no avail. I hit pay dirt when I went into Give Me a Break, our town’s flourishing answer to Star-bucks. Tammy was sitting in the corner with a book, making notes. My chance had come.

I took my half-caf, mocha latte con panna with me and hoped for the best.

“Tammy.”

She looked up. For a moment she seemed glad to see me, then memory intruded and her eyes narrowed. “Aggie.”

“May I join you for a few minutes?”

I could see she wanted to say no, but that was far too rude. She nodded at the chair across from her.

“Can I get you a refill?” I asked. She was drinking plain old coffee, which meant she was far less creative but far more likely to keep the barista happy than I was.

“No, I’m okay.”

“Are you studying?”

She closed the book just a tad too hard. “I’ve decided that when Madison goes off to Ohio State or OU, I’m going to enter the nursing program at Emerald College. I’m just boning up on chemistry so I’ll be ready.”

I’d never heard Tammy had other career aspirations. “I’d have to start all over again. I don’t remember a thing, not even the periodic table.”

“I’ve just been waiting until she gets through school,” Tammy said. “I wanted to be home with her as much as I could while she was growing up. I couldn’t work, go to school, too, and be any kind of mother.”

“You’ll make a great nurse.”

“But you’re not here to talk about that, are you?”

“I think you know why I’m here.”

“Why do you always stick your nose into other people’s business?”

How could I be hurt when this was oh, so true? “This particular time it’s because a woman’s sitting in jail for a murder she didn’t commit.”

“I didn’t kill Grady Barber. Madison didn’t kill him. Can’t that be good enough for you?”

“It will be, if you tell me where you were that night.”

She didn’t repeat her lie. I was sure she knew I had checked her story.

“I am a good mother.”

“That’s a good place to start. Something we can agree on.”

“I just wanted the best for her. I wanted Madison to have what I didn’t. I wanted her to have the whole world open to her.”

I nodded, afraid to break her train of thought with questions. She paused for so long I wasn’t sure what to do, but in the end, silence was the best option.

The defiant expression disappeared. “I didn’t want to believe Grady Barber was anything except what he seemed on the surface. Professional. Kind. Happy to find such a talented girl in the place he’d come from himself. I ignored all the warning signs, because I didn’t want to believe them. I ignored you. I even ignored Madison the night of her party. I told myself it was the alcohol talking.”

I put down my drink and covered her hand a moment in sympathy. “I’m so sorry. He made a habit of trying to seduce finalists. It turns out Madison wasn’t alone. I wish I’d known that for sure when I warned you.”

“She fell apart the afternoon of the finals and refused to go back. She said he’d made it clear that if she was going to win, she was going to have to do him some favors, too. I didn’t raise her to be that kind of girl, no matter what you think.”

“Stop saying that. What do I think? I think you were young when you had her. I think you two grew up together and you did it with next to no help. But she’s great. You’re great. Don’t assume things that aren’t true.”

“I should have listened to everything she was saying and everything she couldn’t say.”

“I’m not finding this parenting thing easy, either. I probably make as many mistakes as I have successes, but all our kids seem to be turning out okay. In the end you did listen and I’m sure you did everything you could to prevent disaster.”

Her eyes were glistening, but she tried to smile her thanks. “When I finally faced the truth, I took her to see May. The evening of the finals.”

“May Frankel?”

“She knows Madison, from high school and church. She was the obvious person to help her figure out what to do, so we went to her house. After they talked Madison decided that she wasn’t going to participate in the Idyll anymore. She said it was too much to handle, that she just wanted to be out from under the stress. She came out of May’s study and told me, and I was devastated. But I understood. Madison was in over her head, and I just hadn’t faced it in time. So we decided to call the auditorium and tell the stage manager she was sick. Then the next morning we were going to talk to Mrs. Hayworth and explain what was going on. Although I doubt she would have believed it. She was so high on Grady Barber.”

“What happened next?”

“The phones were all tied up. We couldn’t get through. And by the time we finally did, somebody, a ticket seller I guess, told us what had happened. We were still at May’s house, and she was able to talk to Madison about the murder, too. She’s been a big help.”

May had also been as silent as any counselor concerned about confidentiality has to be. I had to give my friend credit.

“How’s Madison doing now?” I asked.

“She’s doing okay. Nobody knows she wasn’t going to appear in the finals, so she hasn’t had to answer questions about it. That’s part of the reason I didn’t want you to know.” Tammy gave a wry smile. “The other part is that I didn’t want you to know you were right. I guess that was childish.”

“I guess that was human.”

“I’m sure you’re going to check out our story. Tell May she’s doing fine, okay?”

“I believe you, but I think I am going over to May’s. I’ve got my own kid problem to talk to her about.”

“When Madison was born my family tried to convince me to give her up for adoption. When I refused, they cut me loose. They thought I’d give up quickly, but of course, I never did. After that I’ve always had this feeling, I guess, that if I ask anybody for help, somebody will try to take her away from me.”